Prempeh College wins 2020 Robofest World Championship

The Robotics team from Prempeh College have been crowned champions of this year’s Robofest World Championship held virtually last Saturday due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team, Mikogolf, one of the three from the school that were among the six representatives from Ghana, beat 21 other contenders in the senior game GolfBowl.

This is the third time Prempeh College has won the competition, having won in 2013 and 2016.

Ghana’s teams

Other teams from Ghana, AgyengoGolf and EddyGolf, both from Prempeh College, placed third and fifth respectively in the same senior game

In the juniors category, a team from Mount Olivet Methodist Academy, MomaGolf, finished third from 23 competing teams in the GolfBowl.

MomaGolf was made up of Ronny Klemesu, Desmond Arkoh, Brian Glenn Dablaka Esther GyameraTemeng and Reginal Atuahene.

This is the second successive time that a team mentored by the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF) has led a team from Ghana to be champions.

Winning task

Prempeh College qualified for the world championship after dominating the regional and national championships held earlier in the year during which they claimed the top three places in the respective competitions.

For the world championship, they converged at their school science laboratory, and supervised by their tutor and coordinator, Mr Peter Agyeman, the Prempeh Mikogolf team, made up of Francis Awortwe Junior, Ablorhey Tetteh Jude, Gyandoh Asiedu Ekow, David Nintang Junior and Christopher Alhassan, undertook their task.

They were tasked to design a robot, attached to a wood piece, and which would autonomously and without any help, put golf balls, in five different colours into a hole-slot within a set time, without dropping any of the balls.

At the end of two rounds, the Prempeh Mikogolf team scored 103 points, good enough to win them the champions’ title.

They received a trophy and certificates of participation from the organisers of the competition.

Virtual contest

The Robofest was scheduled to take place at the Lawrence Technological University in Michigan,USA, but due to the pandemic, the competition took place on a virtual platform, with Robofest officials from the university assumin

Starting right

The country Director of RiSE and founding member of GRAF, Dr Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, congratulated  the Mikogolf team on their excellent performance which led to their success.

He expressed the hope that their diligence would inspire teams around the country to follow their example.

Schools from Ghana have excelled at the annual practical competition held in Michigan.

After Prempeh College’s success in 2013 and 2016, Opoku Ware Senior High School also won the 2018 edition before Mamfe Methodist Girls’ successful turn last year.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Prempeh College’s team coordinator, Mr Agyeman commended his students for their hardwork and determination.

He said, the decision to build the teams with the form three and form two students during the preparatory time paid off as “the teams were able to carry on without missing out too much when the form three students completed their examinations and left school.”

He was also grateful to the school management and old students for the immense support they provided to motivate the students to give of their best.